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much better than the old style

I purchased this last year to replace my precious lake land yogurt maker that lasted about 7 years.Apart from the fact this seems to be the "main" yogurt maker i have seen anywhere i was drawn to the claim "No electronics, mess or fuss, making it simple and easy" I like how you don't need to plug this in and you can just add hot water from a kettle.

**Pros**I think the selection of flavours you can get for this is pretty good.The prices can be more expensive than some yogurts you get from the shop but i think that the fact these are fresh make up for this.This is much easier to clean than my previous one and it feels just as durable.As there are no cables this takes up much less cupboard space (well shelf space)You dont need to use the sachets as there are plenty of other cheaper recipes online that work just as well with this machine.It comes in different colours - yes i know this doesn't really matter but sometimes its nice to have matching kitchen gadgets. To use the product all you do is "Mix a sachet (not included) with cool water in the jar; fill the Yoghurt Maker with boiling water; put the jar inside the Yoghurt Maker and leave for 8 hours... you'll have thick and creamy yoghurt" Anything that can be explained in so little words is clearly simple to use

**Cons**It does take 8-12 hours to make which is fine if you leave it over night but i quite often forget to do this.It doesn't come with that many containers so i would suggest getting extra to make yogurts for the week.

**Flavors include**greek and coconutstrawberrytoffeelemonvanilla custardgreek and honeymangobanana peach and more

**where to get**This can be purchased from amazon,lake land ,Holland and barrets.They cost about £13 but you can get gift packs from £15 -£20 which are much better value.

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A wonderfully simply yoghurt maker that helps me avoid the supermarket for another day!

At Christmas, back in 2012, Father Christmas was very kind to me and brought me an array of gifts to kindly place under my Christmas tree. I had specifically asked for this yoghurt maker, via the technological advance of my Amazon wishlist. At just under £17 for this yoghurt maker, a recipe book, a sachet of 'fruit squirt' (a puree for adding to yoghurt) and a packet of natural yoghurt the starter pack that I requested was better value than paying around £14 alone for the yoghurt maker.

I like to make my own baked goods, meals, bread and other items as it helps me avoid the supermarket for longer. By dehydrating items, having canned, frozen and fresh vegetables and fruit I am able to go shopping once every 7-10 days, allowing me to make less impulse purchases and save money. This is part of the reason why I wanted a yoghurt maker, to save me money on the expensive tubs of natural yoghurt that I buy each time I go shopping, and also because I love to make things myself, at home, as I spend most of my time at home when my husband is working and like to keep myself busy when my friends are at work. Because of health complaints I am frequently ill and because of this I like to do what I can for my body, in terms of healthy foods and 'good' bacteria, which is why I consume live yoghurt on a daily basis, as does my husband.

This yoghurt maker is nothing special to look at as it basically looks like a large, tall, red and white plastic flask. There is no handle on the lid of course but that is how I would sum it up. The container is completely made of plastic, at least what I can see, and there is a red plastic insert (called a baffle) within that is pressed down to the bottom of the cylinder. There is a hole in the red baffle, and a number of little ridges of plastic. The part of the Easiyo, that holds the actual yoghurt, the plastic container, sits within the cylinder and you can make yoghurt in 8-12 hours, with no electricity, no mess and not even any real effort. Basically, to use this you take your yoghurt pot, which holds 1 litre, and has measurement increments on the side, and you mix up some of the yoghurt within. Initially I used a sachet of Easiyo natural yoghurt that I received and to this I added filtered water halfway up the yoghurt jar. I then added 2 tablespoons of sugar, as suggested in the instruction booklet I received with this (the suggestion is 2-4 tablespoons) and then I shook it up. Once I had shook it for a good two minutes I then added more water up to the 'fill to top' marker, just before the very top, replaced the screw top red plastic lid and gave it another vigorous shake. While I was shaking up the yoghurt I had a full kettle of water boiling, around 1.5 litres, and I then put the red baffle in place, pressed it down to the bottom of the yoghurt maker, and then added in the boiling water until it reached the top of the baffle. I then added the mixed yoghurt to the cylinder and screwed on the chunky plastic lid. Overall it took me around 4-5 minutes to make the mixture and pour the water slowly so that I didn't splash myself or make any mistakes, a time which has now come down to under 2 minutes as I dump the water in, shake the pot a load and put it all together. Once the lid is on I then leave my yoghurt maker, usually overnight, for around 8-10 hours sometime. At 8 hours I find that the yoghurt still looks a little runny, but at around 10-12 hours I find that it has set beautifully, from the runny consistency that it starts off at, into a beautifully thick, creamy yoghurt, just like the one I used to buy from Yeo Valley. I then remove the pot, wipe off the water and put it in the fridge, I get the yoghurt maker, the baffle and the lid, shake off/pour away all the excess water and then leave upturned on my draining board for the day while the water dries and then I can put this straight back into my 'gadget' cupboard (with the lid taken off so it can fit comfortably).

When researching this yoghurt maker, before asking for it from Father Christmas, I checked to find out if it was possible to make yoghurt without using the natural yoghurt mix that I first received. I have since found this recipe:

2-3 Tablespoons of previous batch of natural yoghurt2 Tablespoons of skimmed dried milk powder2 Tablespoons of sugar1 litre carton of UHT milk (usually semi-skimmed or whole as they seem to set better) as required to fill back up to 1 litre mark, filling halfway first, shaking vigorously etc as required when using an Easiyo yoghurt mix sachet. I then save the extra milk, usually around 100ml and use this within 2 or 3 days in other recipes when cooking.

This recipe has worked very well for me and with the natural yoghurt, which has something of a sour taste, I have found that I can follow this recipe, using a couple of tablespoons from the previous batch, for at least 4 or 5 batches before the taste is dulled somewhat for me and this stops being so tasty. This is when I get a small pot of Yeo Valley live yoghurt and use 1/3 of a small pot, so around 50ml, freezing the other 100ml in two batches for a couple of weeks time (keeping for no more than 6-8 weeks in the freezer). I then follow the above recipe again and I have now been able to make natural yoghurt without buying the Easiyo sachets. I have tried other sachets in the range, and so far I am yet to find a mix that does not set as advised by the 12 hour mark. I tend to just shut the lid up and leave it for at least 8-10 hours without opening it all, so I don't let the excess heat escape from the yoghurt maker.

With the above recipe, and my method for making extra batches without the expensive kits, I am able to make 1 litre of yoghurt for around 85p as I pay just under 70p per 1 litre of UHT milk and the sugar and skimmed milk powder have a very low expense per tablespoon.

There is an Easiyo instruction booklet, that comes supplied with this yoghurt maker, that shows you exactly, using pictures and text, how to make this yoghurt but it really is incredibly simply. Basically just take the cylinder, fill with hot water up to the top of the red baffle, add the mixed up yoghurt pot and leave overnight or for 12 hours - that's it! No electricity is required, other than to boil the hot water, and one kettle, mine holds 1.5 litres, is enough. The booklet provided has lots of useful information about the cultures and benefits within natural yoghurt, which makes interesting reading, and while I have had an unlucky 12 months health wise (chickenpox, measles, glandular fever and a variety of other more serious stuff going on more long term) I've been able to keep a healthy stomach through almost everything - a blessing when feeling under the weather. Since my bout of bad health has passed, about two months now, I've been feeling fantastic and better than ever, despite health problems affecting my life sometimes quite frequently.

I tend to make the natural yoghurt , as opposed to the flavoured ones, as I like to make my own purees, toffee sauce and add things like nuts or fruit to my yoghurt to make it an extra delicious dessert, lunch accompaniment or even a special breakfast with honey. I feel that the money it costs me to make this yoghurt is definitely worth it, and 1 litre of my usual natural yoghurt was costing me around £3, or £2-£2.50 on special offer, so I am saving a few pence while being able to whip up fresh yoghurt at home without having to visit the supermarket urgently. The flavoured sachets, which I buy and use the one time rather than stretching out and re-making are around £2-£3 depending on where I buy them from and the quantity that I buy, but then they only need a little sugar, usually, and water added to them, so these come in at a good price again compared to the high quality flavoured yoghurts and the flavours that I have tried; cherry, toffee, vanilla custard, caramel, mango, peach and banana have been absolutely delicious and have not disappointed at all.

I am rating this yoghurt maker 5/5 stars. Yes there is a small initial outlay but with it not requiring electricity I feel that it is a fantastic item, and one that I get a lot of use out of. I would say that I make yoghurt around every 3-4 days, depending on how much we've been using, and it takes me just minutes to prepare this with basically no cleaning or fuss. My husband is a big fan of this yoghurt, which is important to me as he can be fussy, and he says that the natural yoghurt takes like 'the yoghurt in a Muller Corner' which he adores so that must be good! I do add fruit puree, nuts, fresh fruit, frozen fruit, homemade salted caramel sauce or other delicious things to my yoghurt typically and I use the plain yoghurt in recipes such as curries, dips and sauces, to avoid using cream and this works very well too.I am a huge fan of this yoghurt maker and while I have read threads online that talk about making yoghurt in a thermal flask or slow cooker I prefer this method as it is no mess and no fuss really, it takes me minutes to put together and it is so simple that I don't need to refer to the instructions ever and can get it prepared in the time it takes to boil the kettle.

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Tasty yoghurt from minimal effort.

Introduction

This is a review of the basic EasiYo yoghurt maker. The New Zealand-based company claims 'no electronics - no mess - no fuss - so simple - so easy!' While I am not attempting to review the accompanying products it's necessary for me to make reference to some of the EasiYo sachets, as without this I could not reflect on the performance of the yoghurt maker.

An Impulse Buy?

We are a three adult household and, as individuals with quite individual tastes, usually have a fair selection of yoghurts in the fridge. My son enjoys freely consuming a variety of flavours from those big 450g pots. My husband, whose digestive system is 'sensitive' at the best of times, and more so since he has needed steroid treatment, likes to take a probiotic drinking yoghurt each day and eats an occasional Activia- style yoghurt. I'm really a natural yoghurt consumer, though I do like the sharper taste of some of the Longley Farm varieties, but unfortunately they are not readily available where we live. I've owned a Lakeland yoghurt making machine for some time, and have found it easy to use, economic to run but limited in terms of what it can produce [natural yoghurt] I've noticed the EasiYo products in several stores and often considered trying one out but to be honest I wasn't convinced I liked the idea of using sachets, generally preferring fresh ingredients where possible. I don't know whether it was a moment or recklessness or just spontaneity, then, that persuaded us to buy an EasiYo Yoghurt Maker when we were in Lakeland to buy something else immediately after Christmas. On second thoughts, the fact that it was offered at half the usual price and there was a special offer on the sachets probably persuaded us! Normally retailing in Lakeland for £14.29, we paid £7.14 on this occasion. My husband's normal reaction would have been 'Not something else to clutter up the cupboards!' but on this occasion it was 'I guess there's not a lot to lose at that price.' Well, ladies, that settled it! There were a couple of packs on offer: one just had the yoghurt maker & the pot that goes inside it, the other was a more deluxe version and had two pots, I think, a trial sachet of yoghurt and maybe something else - we didn't look too closely because we saw that some of the sachets of yoghurt were also on special offer at £3 off if you bought two. As we live some 20 miles from the city we felt it was more sensible to take advantage of this offer. For the record, the cherry yoghurt, described as a 'probiotic base' was selling at £11.49 for 5 sachets, while the probiotic, reduced fat natural yoghurt was £10.49 for 6. All of the sachet boxes have full nutritional details on them.

What's In The Box?

When we unpacked our tall, slender box at home, we found, unsurprisingly, a tall red and white cylindrical container with a screw - on lid. The yoghurt jar was inside this; it, too, is red and white with a red lid. A red plastic ring with a base that has a hole in the centre puzzled me at first; this is called the baffle and you push this down into the yoghurt maker to hold the yoghurt pot. There was a 24 page information and instruction booklet, and a guarantee form: 12 month replacement/repair. As this looks very much like a plastic flask I can't really see that much can go wrong, though I suppose you could drop it and cause it to crack, or melt it on a hot plate, etc. This wouldn't be covered under the guarantee though, unless you could prove the damage resulted from faulty workmanship in some form.

Let's Get Going!

Despite the fridge being pretty full of Christmas leftovers at the time, I was typically impatient to try it out and turned to the 'Just 3 Easy Steps' page without reading the rest. I never seem to learn! I read that I simply had to fill the yoghurt pot to the half-way mark with tap water, add a sachet, mix it well, top up with more water to the top, put the lid back on and shake well. Then I had to boil the kettle and fill the yoghurt maker with boiling water to the top of the red baffle inside it, put the yoghurt pot inside, put the lid on and leave it for 8-12 hours. No problem. Armed with a sachet of the cherry yoghurt I set to work, just before bedtime. I left it overnight and checked it in the morning to find something that looked like pink drinking yoghurt - not what I had expected! I took the yoghurt pot out, tipped away the water in the base, boiled the kettle and repeated the procedure. After a further period of time I looked again, to see that it looked thicker but still not as I had expected. That was when I decided to read the instructions properly! I should not have changed the water; doing that could have destroyed the culture or made the yoghurt curdle! I should instead have left the yoghurt as it was for up to 24 hours. Thankfully it wasn't wasted. I would have felt very annoyed with myself if it was.

I have to say that the appearance and flavour of the yoghurt was quite delicious!

Obviously, after that near miss I had to try again with the natural yoghurt. This time I took my time and was careful. I discovered that I probably hadn't filled the boiling water to a high enough level with the cherry mix, so I rectified this. I left the yoghurt for well over 12 hours this time, and was delighted to discover really thick, tasty yoghurt when I did open it.

Supplementary Products

EasiYo's booklet gives a lot of nutritional information, discusses the benefits of acidophilus cultures, [contained in every EasiYo product], who should eat EasiYo yoghurt every day [just about everyone!] and gives serving ,recipe and even beauty ideas. There's also information about what products are available. I have to admit the range is comprehensive. You can get a cookbook, extra yoghurt jars and lunchtaker pots, ranges described as standard, lower fat, speciality, biolife, drinking yoghurt, premium, yoghurt 'n bits and fruit squirt toppings. I believe there's an ice-cream making product available too, but I haven't looked into this as I have an ice-cream making machine with which I'm well satisfied.

Evaluation

I think I am going to like making yoghurt this way, which slightly surprises me. I'd heard that it is good but I was a bit cynical - it IS good. It costs next to nothing to run - not even the cost of boiling the kettle if you make a cup of tea at the same time! I think it would be wise to have a few varieties in the cupboard at the same time; otherwise it would be easy to become bored with eating the same one week after week! It seems to me that there is a much wider range available through online shopping than in-store so I will look further in to that. I suspect it will become my preferred option.

Yoghurt cost: by my reckoning, and I'm not great at this, at full Lakeland price 1 kg cherry yoghurt would have cost in the region of £2.20. I think a 450g Onken pot favoured by my son was about £1.25 last time I bought it for him, so this could work out cheaper.

I think I would have felt somewhat cheated if I had paid Lakeland's full price and then seen the prices at which this can be bought on various internet sites. Much as I like Lakeland as a shop, this is a huge difference. It's clearly worth looking out for special offers. Incidentally, when I visited the shop again last week, they were no longer on offer!

The only disadvantages I can see are that the yoghurt maker appears to be useless without the sachets, so you are tied in to buying these. Because of this I definitely think it is worth shopping around for good offers and I've included some of my initial research because I think it will help you to look at these if you're thinking of buying the yoghurt maker. Also, due to its height, it's possible that it might not easily fit into some kitchen units.

I recommend this yoghurt maker and rate it as a 5 star product. Just make sure you get a good price!

Websites

www.easiyo.com

www.easiyoghurt.co.uk with online ordering across the range, including special offers, clearance items, starter packs, special packs - you can even design your own starter kit featuring a choice of 5 different colours for the yoghurt maker. The price for the basic yoghurt maker - which is the pack we bought - is currently £7.49 - only a few pence more than what our Lakeland Special Offer, so it's probably a good idea to compare prices for the best offer, much as I like Lakeland!

www.easiyoshop.co.uk at first I thought this was the sales part of the same site but it appears different in that it offers fewer yoghurt maker packs, has a loyalty point scheme and sells individual sachets.

Thank you for reading my review, which may appear on other sites.

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Non-electrical home systme for making yogurt.

The wife and I are partial to a nice dollop of plain yogurt, the thicker the better. That way we can pretend we're breakfasting on a harbour-side in Greece, drizzling honey over it - the yogurt, not the harbour!

We'd been aware of the Easi Yo system, originating in New Zealand, for quite a while thanks to a couple of strategically-placed Lakeland Shops, one in Windsor and the other in Kingston.

One day whilst browsing shops in Hereford, we wandered into their Lakeland store and bought our 'starter kit' for about £15 I seem to recall.

We also bought the set of extra jars (and two yogurt pots) for around £6.99

In the starter set you get all the ingredients you'd need for your first batch of 'yoggy'. However, like colour printers which invariably come with only half-filled ink cartridges, you won't make as much yogurt from the solitary sachet of Easi Yo's own powder as you do from future packs of sachets. The rest of the kit comprises one insulated flask, one 1 litre yogurt mixing jar, and some 'squirty' fruit concentrate for putting on your yogurt just prior to serving.

The packs of sachets all cost around £10.49 to £12.48, some containing 5 sachets and other 6, each sachet capable of making 1 litre of yogurt. There is a wide variety of styles and low fat versions too. We tend to plump for the 'Bio-Greek' at £10.49 for 5.

MAKING SOME

Thanks to the well thought-out system, there's no device to plug in overnight as the only source of hot water for this comes from your own kettle. As a result of that, I'd query Lakeland's claim that it 'uses no electricity'. It doesn't, but you do!

Basically, you mix the sachet in with some room-temperature water, give it all a good shake and put it into the insulation flask which has already had boiling water poured in up to a prescribed mark, seal the lid and leave it over night.

The flask is in white plastic with red trim, so it's not unsightly in most kitchens.

THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING

As I said before, we only tend to use the Greek yogurt mix, as we like it thick! This really does taste authentic and creamy, begging to have honey drizzled on it.

TAKING LIBERTIES WITH EASI YO IS 'EASI - NO?'

If you want to be even more cheap-skate, and you think that £2.05 per litre is expensive, then my wife stumbled upon an 'Easi Yo stretcher formula' which on the face of it can make a sachet designed to make one litre go 12 (yes 12) times farther.

OK, it involves the use of other ingredients, so it's not 12 times cheaper, but heaps cheaper it almost certainly is!

Here goes.

a) Ingredients

200 ml of evaporated milk, i.e. about half a large can

1 x tablespoon of the Easi Yo sachet, i.e. about one twelfth of it.

Full fat milk.

b) Method

Put the evaporate milk into the mixing jar and top up with about 300 ml of full fat milk to around half way.

Add the tablespoon from the Easi Yo sachet plus 2 x tablespoons of a previous batch, or just use any plain yogurt if doing this for the first time.

Shake well.

Top up with the full fat milk to the 1 litre mark, shake again (oh yeah, put the lid on first! Duhhh!)

Add to the preheated insulated flask and sit back and wait!

p.s. I don't have a recipe for substitute honey, and anyway, the British Bee Keeping Association might accuse me of 'honey-laundering'.

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Fun at first, but quicker to buy it in the end

I was brought this for christmas because I eat a lot fo yoghurt. At first I used it all the time and as time went on it now lives in the cupboard and I find it easier to buy yoghurt!

When I opened the easiyo yoghurt maker you get a packet of natural yoghurt mix, a fruit squirt and a yoghurt cookbook. It is pretty easy to use and understand the instructions. The 3 easy steps are:

1) mix the packet of easiyo yoghurt with cool water in the yoghurt jar provided.2) You then pour boiling water into the yoghurt maker (which is a large white Jar) to about 1/2 way.3) place the jar inside and leave it for 8-12hours/overnight.

We usually make it in the evening and leave it overnight as im inpatient during the day and want to try it.

I've only tried the strawberry and banana flavour ones. The strawberry flavour is my favourite as I found the banana one far to sweet and sickly. I need to try other flavours as there are a lot out there, you can buy them from lakeland or Julian Graves.

The main varieties you can buy are:Bio-FruitsBio-SkimmersProbioticgreek style

The reason I no longer use my yoghurt maker is because of 2 reasons.1) the sachets costs about £2, or usually a box of 5/6 for £10-12 I realised it was just cheaper to buy onken yoghurt at £1 a time!2) it takes 8-12hours to make 1kg of yoghurt, its easier and quicker to go to the shop and buy some!

they've also brought out a cheesecake, mousse and ice cream mix you can try which looks quite interesting.

But it is quite addictive at first, a bit like bread making, you go mad trying all the different flavours and varieties and then realise its quicker, cheaper and easier to go buy it from the shop!

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Make fresh yoghurt really Easi-ly

I have had this EasiYo Yoghurt maker for a while now. The real reason behind my purchase is that in our family we go through a whole mountain of yoghurts per week. Have you noticed that the ones that are better for you, with the live cultures Lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidus, and pre and pro biotics are always the most expensive? They may be the best choice for your family, but if cost is a factor, they may not be the best choice for your pocket.

Now enters the EasiYo. I could go into the whole history, about how it was invented by someone, in their garden shed, in the beautiful country of New Zealand, but that would be boring. If you are interested, there's a lovely video telling the story here: http://www.easiyo.com/about-us/historybook/index.html

The actual body of the yoghurt maker is a bullet shape. The outer and lining is made of plastic, and is manufactured in a few different colours now, to co-ordinate with your kitchen appliances. I have a bog standard white one, as shown above. The insulation, I presume is made of polystyrene, and reminds me of the cool boxes of the 70's era.

Inside you will find a circular device, called a baffle. This is the water fill level, and it's also into which your pot of freshly mixed yoghurt sits.

To make the yoghurt, you simply fill up the yoghurt maker up to the level with hot water. This level varies though, in summer when the ambient temperature outside of the machine is high, you may want to put slightly less water in, and when it's freezing, you may need to put in slightly more. All this is simply explained in the book you receive with your EasiYo Maker. It also contains stunning photographs and recipes for you to follow.

I purchased EasiYo yoghurt maker off QVC, as a starter kit. The benefit here was that I was able to pay in instalments. You can also purchase all the hardware needed from the EasiYo website itself, www.easiyo.com or a starter kit is available from Lakeland on the high street or www.lakeland.co.uk online at the cost of £19.99. It sounds a lot, but I quickly recouped my initial outlay.

Depending on what you purchase with your yoghurt maker, you may find you need more jars to make other flavours, or mini jars to transport individual portions to be eaten away from home, at work or school. These do not cost a lot at around £10 and are indispensible.

To make the yoghurt, once you have filled the main body of the machine with boiling water, you simply empty a sachet of your choice of flavour, into a jar which is half filled with cold water, and shake vigorously. Once it is mixed thoroughly, top up with more water up to the 1kg line.

This makes a whole kilogram of the freshest yoghurt ever made. The contents of the sachet will not be activated until you actually add the water, therefore it is you who has made the yoghurt - at that very moment. It's not made at a factory, two weeks ago, and now the live cultures are deteriorating minute upon minute. It's as fresh, as fresh as can be.

Once it's been in the maker for a minimum of 8 hours, you will make tasty, healthy yoghurt that the whole family will enjoy, and most of all, benefit from.

A kilogram is equal to 10 small pots of Actimel, or whatever brand you choose. Comparing at Asda this morning, 100g of Actimel is 33p. 100g of EasiYo generally works out around 25p. Asda has a special offer running currently, so it should be almost double EasiYo, so you see, the savings will soon mount up. :)

The sachets are also available from the stockists mentioned above, but I have bought them before from Julian Graves stockists, and also off eBay if there's a new flavour I would like to try, but wouldn't like to buy a whole box of five sachets, just in case I don't like it.

I won't bother you with all the flavours available, as this can easily be found on the websites mentioned above, but what I would like to mention is that, not only can you make yoghurt for eating, you can make drinking yoghurt with this maker. It is the freshest, most yummy thing ever, and even more nutritious than a milkshake for your little ones, and better still, your little ones' tummies.

Now I'm an EasiYo convert, I plan to buy the ice cream version next. Ice cream that's good for you? What can be better than that?

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A 5 star product!

I have a slight obsession with kitchen gadgets, so much so that I even briefly considered extending my kitchen simply for the space to keep them out without cluttering up my sideboards!

Luckily my sensible side took over and I just keep a lot of them hidden away in cupboards. One gadget that I am happy to display is my Easiyo Yogurt maker.It's quite pretty compared to a lot of my other 'makers', it also doesn't take up much space so it's always on display in the corner of my kitchen.I can't find my tape measure but it is the size and shape of one of those three litre bottles of Coke you can buy (without the lid!).

The Easiyo Yogurt Maker works just like a flask, it also looks like one. It's a tall, thick, plastic cylinder with a screw on lid. The lid is well fitting and blends in to the main section so it is a very smooth and sleek unit. It comes in Black, silver, white, pale pink and pale mint. I would have loved the pink one, although as it was a gift from my mum I received the mint one, as she thought it would look nicest in my kitchen and to be honest, she was right.

Some yogurt makers come with the Easiyo logo printed in full colour (red and white), mine however is imprinted in to the plastic, on the top of the lid and a smaller one on the side.

Inside you will find instructions (very clear and easy to follow), a jar for the yogurt, and a 'baffle'. The Baffle is basically a little stand that you put in before the yogurt jar to make sure it is in the right position (and therefore getting the right amount of heat).

Depending on the pack you choose, you may receive some yogurt sachets. Alternatively, you can buy sachets of yogurt for £1.69-£2.39 (depending on where, and what kind you buy), there must be around 30 different flavours, from Greek to mixed berries, to banana, to drinking yogurts (think of those packs of tiny yogurt drinks you can buy that cost a fortune). You can also buy in bulk from certain places so you can get them even cheaper than this.

The set I got included ten sachets of the tropical mango drinking yogurt - it is delicious! All yogurts as far as I am aware are probiotic and contain 'real base and culture' whatever that means! From reading the back of the tropical mango pack I find that every 250 ml cup contains at least 33% of your recommended daily calcium intake (I think this applies to all flavours).

All sachets make 1 litre of yogurt, and they all tend to last for around a week; the drinking yogurts will last for two weeks, which is excellent for if you want to have a little each day for health benefits. It would also save you a fortune if you tend to buy the yogurt health drinks as they can cost over £3 a week.

To make the yogurt, you...

Half fill the yogurt jar with clean drinking water (straight from the tap if you wish)Pour the mix in and stir well.Fill the jar to the top with more water and stir again.Fill the yogurt maker half way with boiling water (there is a clear line to show you where to fill to)Place the yogurt jar in the maker and secure lid

Wait for 6-8 hours (depending on the pack), and voila - fresh yogurt!

It really is so simple, you cannot go wrong - even if you forget to take it out, the yogurt will be fine in the maker for up to 24 hours. I have done this before and there is no difference in taste. It is also very simple to clean, as you only put water in to the main 'maker' you don't really have to clean it much, but it is all smooth with no awkward corners so easily wipes clean if it does get dirty.

I've tried many different flavours and all have turned out beautifully, apart from the banana flavour. I was so disappointed as banana is my favourite flavour yogurt! It looked and smelt nice but when I tried to take a spoon of it, it was all gelled together (kind of like that green goo stuff that kids like to play with), I took out the spoonful and it stuck to the rest of the yogurt and slowly fell back into the pot! Awful!Other than that one, the yogurt is always great - soft, creamy, healthy and delicious, especially the mixed berry one!

I love my yogurt maker and use it quite often. It is just so easy to use, I tend to mix it up at night, and then it is ready for breakfast in the morning.

If you are interested in buying an Easiyo Yogurt Maker, you can buy them from a range of places including:Julian GravesHolland and BarrattLakelandQVCAmazon

They tend to cost £10-15, although you could probably get one cheaper on ebay.

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Yummy

I used to buy yogurts on a regular basis, then I saw an easiyo yogurt maker demonstration, I thought it would just be one of those things you use once then it ends up in the cupboard.

Then I saw it on QVC the shopping channel, they have a 30 day money back gaurantee policy, you can use a product for 30 days, then if you're not happy with it you simply return it and you get a full refund, well, I thought I've got nothing to loose.

I received my easiyo yogurt maker and a collection of yogurt sachet mixes. It's so easy to use you simply pour boiling water into the flask like yogurt maker then half fill the yogurt pot with cold water then add the dried yogurt sachet and give it a good shake then you top it up with more cold water to the full marker (1 litre), then pop the yogurt pot into the yogurt maker and leave for 8 hours.

I make mine in the evening and leave it over night, then in the morning I have a full litre of tasty yogurt waiting for me.Sweet Greek is my favourite, you can also get all the usual flavours, strawberry, raspberry, mango, peach along with a further 10 or more flavours.I buy my replacement yogurt mixes from the internet (just google easiyo) you can also get them from Lakeland or QVC.

The yogurt sachet costs around £2. each, each sachet will make a full litre of organic yogurt, this works out a lot cheaper than buying organinc yogurt from the supermarket, as I found a 500ml of organic yogurt cost almost £2.

If you love yogurt give it a try, you'll love it, you can't get yogurt this fresh at the supermarket.

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We've never looked back!

I have had one of these for years now - since Lakeland Limited first started selling them. I'd tried other methods of making yogurt before that, and they were all a bit of a faff to say the least! This really couldn't be easier - put the kettle on to boil, while it's boiling put a sachet of yogurt powder in the tub, half fill with cold water and stir / shake to mix, then pour boiling water into the special flask and pop the tub in - and that really is it! Almost takes longer to type than to do! You then leave it for 8 hours or so - and hey presto, a full litre of fresh yogurt!

I find it's best to leave it overnight - though if the weather's cold it sometimes needs longer, or a bit more hot water in the first place ... but generally the 'leave it overnight' instructions work fine.

The yogurt itself comes out thick and creamy and has all the healthy bacteria - I love it. The big advantage for me too is that my son doesn't like yogurt with 'bits' in, and it can be difficult to get smooth set yogurts in our local supermarket, so the flavoured Easiyo sachets are fantastic. We buy a variety pack - lemon and mango are my two favourites, but to be honest we enjoyed them all (the other flavours are strawberry, raspberry and cherry).

The other varieties available are mostly variations on the theme of bio natural yogurt - a greek style, a skimmed milk version etc. We've only tried the standard one (apart from the flavoured variety pack mentioned above).

You can get the sachets from Lakeland, and I've also seen them in Holland and Barrett, but I'm not sure where else - wish they were a bit more widely available! At around the £10 mark for 6 sachets of natural or a little more for 5 mixed flavours, this can seem pricey but is actually great value for what you get compared to buying pots in a supermarket.

The only real disadvantage I can think of is that it's easy to eat more than you meant to ;-)

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Best thing I have ever bought! Don't hesitate about buying one!

The Easiyo yoghurt maker originates from New Zealand and was created by a man called Len Light in 1982 who wanted to find an easy way of making fresh yoghurt as he knew how good it was for his family. This was a hit in New Zealand and apparently nearly every household there now has one, it was exported to 20 different counties and they started to arrive in the UK about 5 years ago.

To be good for your health and immune system yogurt must contain sufficient numbers of 'live and active lactic cultures and the fresher the yogurt, the higher the population of these. Scientific studies show that besides providing calcium and protein, yogurt consumption can help increase our physical defence against infectious microbes, and keep our digestive system healthy. Processed yogurt can never be as fresh as Easiyo, and some store bought yogurts may not have any live lactic cultures left by the time you come to consume them. The cultures in yoghurt have a limited lifetime so obviously the fresher you make it the longer the cultures will be alive in the yoghurt. This is what the Easiyo brand is based on and it is also why it is good for you.

I first purchased my yoghurt maker from Julian Graves health shop about 3 years ago I noticed it in the window when I was passing and I was intrigued to see what it was and how it worked, needless to say I did think it was going to cost a small fortune. Once I started looking at it and reading about how it was so much better for you than shop bought yoghurt I decided to give it a go as to my surprise it was only £20.00 for the starter pack which I didn't think was too bad at all. The women in the shop also persuaded me as she had bought one and said she didn't regret it.

Once I got home I couldn't wait to try it out and see what the yoghurt tasted like. In the starter pack you get the yoghurt maker, lunch box tub for your yoghurt, one natural sachet mix, fruit squirt topping and a cook book.

I was really surprised to see how simple it was to make the yoghurt and it took me about 5 minutes in all to get it ready. You follow the following steps:

Half fill the yogurt jar with cold drinking water (I use filter water as I think it tastes nicer) then screw the lid back on and thoroughly mix in the contents of the sachet by shaking the jar then just top up with more cold water replace lid and re-shake.

Push the baffle down inside the Yogurt Maker as far as it will go (this is the red object that is inside the yoghurt maker). Pour boiling water into the yogurt maker to the top of the red baffle only then place the jar inside. The boiling water will rise up around the base of the jar. Put the lid on the yogurt maker and leave it for a minimum of 8-12 hours or overnight until set. Then store the yogurt jar in the refrigerator.

It is as simple as that and there is no mess afterwards, I always make mine after tea and just leave it in the yoghurt maker until the following morning, I always find it is set thoroughly by then and is ready to go in the fridge.

When you come to eat the yoghurt you need to give it a good stir as obviously it sets a little bit on top so it just needs mixing up then it is ready to eat. You might be surprised at how thick the mixture is at first but I prefer this to runny yoghurt and I think it makes you feel like you have eaten more. As the mixture in my pack was natural I decided to add two teaspoons of canderel sugar to the mix before putting it in the yoghurt maker as I guessed it probably would be a bit sharp otherwise and they do suggest doing this on the sachet. I was very glad I did as otherwise it would have been to sharp for me but with the sugar in it was just right and the taste was out of this world, I have never tasted such nice yoghurt in all my life, I was so impressed and couldn't wait to get some more flavours.

I had a look around the internet and noticed that you could get quite large packs of different flavour yoghurts from QVC they have their own dedicated Easiyo shop on their website so this makes it easy to find what you are looking for. Their assorted yoghurt packs are about £19.00 and that is for roughly 11 sachets, don't be alarmed by the price it does sound a lot but the sachets make a large tub of yoghurt which I get about 7-8 servings out of, unless I am being greedy ;) so the price really isn't that bad when you think about what you get for your money and also the quality of the yoghurt. You can also buy the sachets individually from Julian Graves for around £2.00 a sachet.

They do so many different flavours of yoghurt and different varieties i.e. low fat etc and all the Easiyo sachets provide:

Billions of live cultures, including acidophilus, in every spoonful. No artificial colours No preservatives Gluten Free Source of calcium and protein The different flavours yoghurts you can buy are:Natural, Banana, Boysenberry, Caramel, Mango, Peach, Strawberry, Vanilla, Lemon, Toffee, Cherry, Raspberry, Blackcurrant, Forest Fruits, Apple & Blackberry and Apricot. These are available in the family yoghurt sachets.

In the low fat yoghurts you can get Reduced fat, skimmers (which is basically fat free natural), Apricot, Berry or Vanilla.

They also have a speciality range which include Vanilla Custard, Greek, Greek and Honey, Sweet Greek, Low Fat Greek and Low Lactose.

Finally they do their own probiotic yoghurts which include Bio-Life Reduced Fat, Bio-Life Organic, Bio-Life Boysenberry and Bio-Life Nectarine.

Out of all these flavours my favourite are Boysenberry (tastes wonderful), Caramel, Banana, Strawberry, Toffee and Sweet Greek. With the apricot and nectarine flavours which are lovely I would suggest adding sugar or low calorie sweetener as they are very tart and probably too sharp for some people to eat this goes for the lemon as well but everyone has their own preference.

The other thing I love about the yoghurt maker is it doesn't just make yoghurt you can also buy drinking yoghurt sachets in either wildberry or tropical mango flavour or wait for it....... Ice cream which you can get in either vanilla or chocolate. I am not 100% sure how you make the ice cream it could be exactly the same as the yoghurt as it comes in a sachet and you make it in the yoghurt maker but I have never made it myself so I couldn't say.

As well as the yoghurt sachets you can buy toppings for your yoghurt which are called "Real Fruit Squirts" and these come in Strawberry, Passion Fruit, Berry Fruit, Cherry Plum and Tropical. You can also have these on ice cream, pancakes etc. I think in the shops these are about £2.00 each and they are really yummy.

If you want extra lunch box tubs and more yoghurt containers so you can make more than one flavour at once you can buy a pack of two containers and four tubs for £9.30 which is good. I always like to make up to flavours as they last ages in the fridge as they are fresh they last about 2-3 weeks.

I always make a pot up for my boyfriend for work and put some frozen fruit in the bottom of the tub then the yoghurt then pour some honey on top he really likes it, I don't like honey so I couldn't say.Some stockists of Easiyo in the UK include Julian Graves, QVC, Lakeland, Lawsons and Yoghurt Direct.

Since making this yoghurt I have really gone off shop yoghurts especially Muller Lights, if you have one of these makers you will probably know what I mean, I used to live of Muller Lights and loved them but now I think they taste artificial and are way too runny and thin and just cannot eat them. I remember seeing the vanilla and chocolate Muller Lights when they first came out and thought I would try one as they sounded nice but they made me feel sick they tasted awful compared to the Easiyo yoghurt. The only yoghurts I will buy now and again are Activia as I do still like them and the Weight Watchers dessert variety but everything else I hate now, it is really strange how your taste can change so much after trying something new.

Anyway if you have seen this yoghurt maker and didn't know whether to buy it please go get one! They are amazing, the yoghurts taste wonderful, it isn't bad in calories at all especially the low fat ones and it is so easy to make and doesn't break the bank and probably the most important thing is it is good for you. If you have children this is such a great thing to buy if they like yoghurt it is good for their immune system and is way better than the childrens yoghurts available in the shops.

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easy to use, great way of keeping your digestive system healthy

I am trying to increase the amount of protein I have in my diet and all the books I looked at recommended yoghurt. I had been wondering about a yoghurt maker for a while and when I saw that this was half price in Lakeland, I took the plunge and bought it.

The really good thing about this system is that it gives you more of the good bacteria that help to protect your stomach and provide more vitamins than you might otherwise get in yoghurt purchased from the shops. The fact that they recommend that it is eaten within 2 weeks of making it because the live cultures don't live much longer backs this up.

The way this system works is that you buy sachets of yoghurt mix and mix one of these with cold water. Make sure you mix it in well to avoid lumpy yoghurt. You then place it in a special flask that comes with the system and fill the flask with hot water. After about 8 hours, the yoghurt is set and ready to eat. It can be left for up to 24 hours in the flask, so don't worry if you forget to take it out! The yoghurt keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge. It does separate out, but this can easily be mixed back in again or siphoned off the top if you so wish.

You can buy various different sachets ranging from organic, low fat, or Greek style and different flavours. Don't make the same mistake I did and not put any sugar into the low fat one because it will taste absolutely disgusting! If you buy the plain sachets, you can then add whatever fruit you want to it. You put the fruit in after the yoghurt has been made. The flavoured ones I have tried are vanilla and mango and they are both nice. The vanilla one is a bit more of a 'sticky' consistency. The sachets are available in an increasing number of high street retailers and a quick look at the easiyo website will give you a comprehensive list of outlets.

This is a really easy system to use and if you prepare it correctly and use the right added ingredients, it tastes far from yucky!

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A great way to enjoy healthy fresh yogurt

I saw this advertised on TV and went on and on about it to my friends, who must've got bored as they bought it for me as a Christmas present! I've bought things before that have looked revolutionary, fantastic, labour saving, and have been a complete waste of time -but not this!

I love Easi-Yo. It is so simple to make great tasting yogurt at less than it costs in the shops. What's great is that when you make Easi-Yo, you activate live cultures which taste sweet. When you buy live yogurt in the shops, that sour taste you sometimes get means most of the live cultures are actually dead - so there is no fresher way to eat yogurt than making it yourself and Easi-Yo makes that a very easy task.

Basically, you mix one packet of whichever flavour yogurt you like (and there are lots!) into half a conatiner (included) of cold water. You put on the lid, shake, top up with water and place into the thermos which you have just topped up with boiling water. Put on the lid, and eight hours later, or overnight in our house, hey presto, 1kg of the most delicious yogurt is ready for use.

Flavours? A plenty my friends! Everything from Greek n Honey, to custard style, Strawberry to Boysenberry, low-fat to sweet, there are so many flavours you are sure to find one for you.

Health - I can hand on heart say that when we eat this yogurt our digestion is much better. The live cultures act like little cleaners on all the microvilli in your gut, they clean out all the rubbish, making your stomach work more efficiently. To be blunt, it reduces bloat and wind!

And don't forget that yogurt is for cooking too- the natural mixes are great for marinating your food and baking, putting into cakes, making dips and sauces. Mine came with a cookbook, which if it isn't in this box, is easily available on the web.

Try it - you'll love it!

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A good useful piece of equipment

I have had my Easiyo youghurt maker for about four years now and use it regularly. I used to buy a variety of flavours but found that, although I am happy to have youghurt every day, my family are not, therefore, although it will keep in the fridge for two weeks, not all the youghurt would get eaten. they like the sweet ones and I like the plain and unsweetened ones. Although, I have to say that the Greek Honey one is really yummy and I reckon that I could eat a kilo in one go.What I do now, is to buy the ones I like and then I buy the Easiyo fruit sauces and everyone can have the flavour that they like.The maker is easy to use and I found it very useful to have two of the large containers, so that I can make one whilst one is still in the fridge. This is more environmentally friendly than the electric youghurt makers because you just use fuel when boiling the kettle, then the thermos flask does the rest.The other thing about using the fruit sauces is that they are made from real fruit, whereas the fruit yoghurt mixes are synthetically flavoured and I like to know what I am putting in my family's bodies.I have emailed Easiyo and asked them if they would consider putting the mixes into recycleable packaging. I am led to believe that they are working on it.

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A great addition to your kitchen gadgets!

I was so pleased when I saw the easi yo yoghurt maker reduced to half price in Lakeland.

There arent many lactose free yoghurts around for people who cant eat the normal ones, so when I saw that easi yo did a lactose free sachet to use in the yoghurt maker I was completely won over.

The first sachet I tried didnt work. Neither did the second. I emailed easi yo for advice but in the meantime made a sachet of the greek yoghurt for the rest of my family. This one DID work, so I knew I was doing it the right way.

Easi yo sent me another sachet of lactose free yoghurt to try, and this time it worked - and I could see why - it was a completely different colour to the first sachets, in which the powder had been a mustardy colour. They must have gone-off, but I hadnt kept the packets so couldnt go back to where I bought them to let them know.

The yoghurt maker is very easy to use - you just shake the powder with water to mix then put the container inside the yoghurt maker and fill to the line with boiling water. You then just wait 8-12 hours or overnight and you have a huge pot of yoghurt to tuck into!

If you dont like the sachets or want to be more traditional you can also use the yoghurt maker to make yoghurt from scratch yourself - just search online for recipes.

Overall, a really good piece of equipment but make sure you check the sachets are in date!

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Fantastic yogurt.

EASIYO REAL YOGURT MAKER

This is an absolutely amazing invention. You can make a whole range of real yogurt flavours overnight and it keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

The Easiyo yogurt maker is basically a special thermos flask in which you put boiling water and your choice of yogurt mixture. Following the instructions you mix up the yogurt mixture with cold water, shake it and after 8 hours or so you have a litre of fantastic yogurt. The process is so simple anyone can do it. The only two things you need are water and a packet of yogurt mixture from Easiyo. Once you have the "thermos" you can buy a whole range of different yogurt styles but we have found the Greek and Skimmers varieties to be foolproof and tasty. They are available to buy in many places both on the web and in the high street. We have bought two multipacks, both from Lakeland, and use them continually. Watch out for offers too as sometimes they are reduced.Overall a superb idea and so tasty!!!